PSALM FIFTY NINE
AMBUSH!
If you read this psalm through carefully please bear in mind that this
was a time of crisis in David's life.
It was when Saul was absolutely determined to slay him. The historic
occasion behind the psalm is recorded in 1 Samuel 19:11-15, and
especially verse 11. Saul had armed men seeking for David. By the context
it is evident that Saul was present when this party was sent to forage to
find David. They were hunting him as though they were hunting an animal.
They got to the place where David and his wife were, and David said to her
the equivalent of, "If they find me, we are both dead." So David let himself
down out of a window and his wife took a statuette and wrapped it up in
the bed, and very ingeniously took goats hair to pretend there was a head
there. When the soldiers knocked at the door she said, "You can't see him,
he is sick." So they returned to Saul and told him who said, "Look, you
bring him out of his bed. We'll slay him!" What a different situation it had
been when David had stumbled over Saul asleep in a cave at night. Twice,
David had opportunity to slay the king, !
but he would not. Here was Saul, determined to kill him as though he were
a dog.
This psalm is the product of Saul's tenacity to kill David. But David
sings, "Deliver me from mine enemy O God."
Saul was determined to kill him. The city was surrounded by Saul's troops.
The house itself was besieged by Saul's guards. The orders were, "Slay him
in the morning!" Sick or well, he must die. Michal knew that David was
doomed to die. Only God could help. "O my God - deliver me from assailants
- workers of iniquity," sings David. His wife did her best to give him a
little time to get away. We all have an enemy who is padding around as a
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
Only God knew David's innocence. My son in law is a prison officer, and in
conversation one day I spoke to him of the 'poor lads' who were inside the
prison. "Yes dad," he responded, "and they are ALL INNOCENT." I caught the
edge of his sarcasm - they are innocent, not in FACT, but in attitude, just
by the claims of their mouths. They speak innocence. David does not plead
his innocence before man, but before God. He knew, that God knew, he was
innocent. He was prepared to let God be the judge. If he was guilty it
would bring down the wrath of heaven. If his plea was true, and he was
innocent - it would bring deliverance. The transgression he denies is that
of revolt against the king - of that he KNEW he was innocent. Our final
plea, in every situation is with God not with men.
The spirit of persecution is a very wicked thing. It is as fierce against
a
relative as it is against a stranger. David was actually Saul's son-in-law.
Yet the persecuted psalmist was in the sight of all those soldiers, doomed
to die. In actual fact, it proved later, that it was the persecutors who
were doomed. The wrath of God is a principle in all the earth and it is an
ambush from which there is no escape.
Only God could rightly assess the situation, and there are two things
that David asks Him to do. In verse four he sings, "Awake to help me Lord
and behold!" This does not infer that God is asleep. The Scriptures always
make it clear that God never slumbers nor sleeps. When the heathen were
having a hard time trying to produce fire where fire would not come, the
prophet of old taunted them saying, "Shout a bit louder; perhaps your god
is asleep." The gods of the heathen are always asleep - they are dumb
idols. In this instance, David is asking God to take a look at his situation.
He uses a wonderful expression - "Awake and behold." There are times
when we all get bewildered with the situations we find ourselves in.
Often we run around in circles like headless chickens, trying to find a
solution. We need someone else to assess the situation for us. It is
possible to ask the advice of friends, only to discover that they too are as
bewildered as we are. It is always best to a!
sk the one who is never bewildered by any situation. The Almighty sees it
ALL and knows the right answer to meet the need. Always ask Him to look
at your situation and you can be confident that He will assess it
thoroughly and correctly.
In verse five the Psalmist again asks the Almighty to awake and visit
the heathen. This is very significant. Saul had heathen among his men,
specially recruited for the task of eliminating David. Doeg the Idumean
was one of them. The whole of the persecution of David was heathen in
character. Woe betide us when we turn to the godless for aid.
David now makes a direct request. "O Lord God of Hosts, the God of
Israel, visit all the heathen without mercy," and he graphically describes
the action of the heathen in the ambush:-
1. They return at evening. They do their work in the dark.
2. They make a noise like a dog. The undomesticated dogs of that day
prowled around at night for food, and howled in the darkness.
3. They belched with their mouths. Their speech was lawless and cruel. Is
it not strange that some people when they say, "I always speak my mind,"
give the overwhelming impression that they are mindless. They just belch
words.
"But Lord," sings David, "You will laugh at them!" When they have laid out
all their plans, everything comes to naught. Those who live like heathens
will die like dogs, yet David pleads, "Slay them not, my people forget. Let
them wander like dogs; Scatter them! Then let them return to wander up
and down looking for something to eat." God does indeed move in
mysterious ways.
When the ambush was over, David sings, "I will sing of THY POWER." We
are kept by the power of God. If the foe is strong - our God is stronger. God
has no crisis nor emergency. "I will sing aloud of Thy Mercy in the
morning." It was in the morning they planned to murder David. The next
time we see David, he is with Samuel in the HOUSE OF THE LORD. God is
wonderful in all His dealings with the children of men. Our last victory
will be our greatest.
He will deliver us from every ambush.
Copyright (c) 1996, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved.
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